The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1887-07-23
LIFE IN SIBERIA.
The Exile System as Carried ont in
Russia.

Mr.. George herman gave an interest.
ing talk upon the Siberian exile system,
in New York. In 1884 Mr.. KEENAN, was
sent to Russia and Siberia by the Cen.
tury Company, and has devoted mon
than two years to the examination Of
the question which he discussed. He
had previously lived in Russia for sew
eral years. and he returned to America
a defender of the Russian Government
against the charges of despotic cruelty
so continually made. It was on account
of some of his newspaper articles defend
ing Russia that he obtained the letters
from the Russian Minister of the Inter
ior which enabled him to pursue his in
vestiSations. Without these letters he
would have been arrested before seeing
even the outside of Siberian prison.
The result of Mr.. Remnants two years
experience is that he can no longer de-
fend the Russian Government against
any of the charges preferred. He met
in Siberia great many political exiles,
some Of them cultivated young women.
and he nc. only ceased to regard them
as half-crazed fanatics, but he came to
love and respect many of them rs among
the most high-minded and noblest ma
lures he had ever met. Very few Of
them, none of them in fact, were 'Nihi.
lists" There we're among them Social
lists Of all descriptions, but the majority
would he content with a constitutional
monarchy.
The prisons in Russia, says Mr.. Ken
nan, are merely for the detention Of
prisoners awaiting trial. Offenders o!
every description are exiled to Siberia.
Of these there are now about twenty
thousand a year. Contrary tc popular
opinion, only about one per cent. Of the
exiles are political criminals. The pri-
sons in Siberia are so OvercrOwdeI as
almost to insure disease, and the hospi-
tails are SO overcrowded as almost to in
sure death. Beds and flooring are sat-
urated with the germs of all kinds OF
diseases and bcfouled with all kinds OF
vermin, while the air is warmed only by
the pent-up heat from the human bodies,
long unwashed. 1t is the loathsOme.
ness of the quarters rather than the hard
ness of the work which renders Siberian
exile so inhuman.
Sentence TO Siberia is not always the
result of trial. Very often it is by ex
ecutive order. Sentence by the court
works the civil death of the exile. Hi:
property is distributed as If he were
dead, and his wife is legally divorced.
In spite of this, however, the wives al
most always accompany their husbands
I to Siberia. Mr.. KEENAN, says that wher
wives are sentenced the husbands Dc
not, as a rule, show an equal amount o.
devotion.
Mr.. Remnants account of how he met
the political eXiles, their talks with him
and the messages which they sent by
him to their friends, enabled his hearer'
to see the Russian exile system from the
exiles' point of view.
Mr.. KEENAN, was uniformly well treat
ed by the Russian officials, hut he gave
some striking incidents of how thes'
officials treated the prisoners. Tit
closeness with which the political pm
soners are watched is almost iudicrous
One official asked Mr. KEENAN, how h
would search prisoner. Mr.. kennal
replied that he would have him strlI
naked and examine every square inch
his clothing, inside and out. The oficia
smiled ami said, II have found hair file
in prisoners ears, letters in their nose
and mouths, and even messages sealei
up in the hollow of prisoners tooth.
When Mr. KEENAN, was asked hoy
long he thought the present system @
Russian government would survive, h
: replied, Certainly for twenty or thirt
years" Not more than one man In
thousand in Russia reads the newspa
pers, and it is dangerous for studen
to try to teach the peasantry. The vas
inert mass of illiterates makes revolt
Ion practically impossible.